Finale Presentation~

            The Final presentation was held on Tuesday, 28th December 2010. There were nine groups presented on that day. One of the group that make the presentation was FuturaTech Company. Their main product is about composting. The presentation was very informative mainly about how the composting process occurred and its advantages. The next group was "XX power" Company. They proposed to produce a type of diaper made from pineapple spike fibers. It was quite weird to hear it at first but their explanations have clarified us about their product. The BioSelf company had came out with the biodegradable plastic made from chicken feather. This initiative will help to reduce the amount of waste from poultry houses.
            The presentation session was continued after lunch starting with the McBio Supreme Company. Their style was more like a corporate presentation. Each one of them had a higher rank title like "Datuk Seri", "Dato' Dr." and "Datin". The product is about biofertilizers which is made from household wastes such as rotten vegetables, fruits and food wastage. It was then followed by The Prodigy Company. that proposed to produce a halal gelatin. Since gelatin could only be obtained from animal, they focus on how the gel  is produced according to the Halal standard. After 40 minutes, the E.COOL.com Company which did their presentation. The product was named Phyto-Mix Yogurt; a yogurt that contained an anti-diabetic bioactive compounds obtained from mangosteen and three other herbs. The marketing strategies were extensive and some areas need to be improved especially about the target locations.
            Three other groups resumed with their presentations after a quick break. The SuperSynergy Company has came out with a biodegradable plastics from organic wastes. They claimed that this product would be easily degraded compared to biodegradable plastics from petroleum. It seems like this company has to compete with Bioself Company. Nevertheless, each product has its own strengths. The Pecah Mental Sdn. Bhd had proposed biofuel as a substitute for petroleum for their business proposal. The last group was Chimera Solutions Company. They started with a video presentation to introduce their brand "Chimera Solutions" and several products that they would produced. It is a halal based materials.
             The session was ended with Madam Norliza gave overall comments about how everyone had performed and progressed. She announced that Yasin is the most progressive trainees. He has changed a lot since the first day he joined the programme. Hopefully, this will inspire others to improve themselves and achieve their personal growth. A thing one has to remember; " When there is a will, there is a way". Till the next post, have a good day!


-Ancora Imparo-
           

Neuro-Linguistic Programming session

Visual, Auditory & Kinesthetic are three basic elements in NLP (www.martinfrost.ws)

On Monday, 27th December 2010, the training was about Neuro-Linguistic Programming session (NLP). I have come across this term before when I browsed through the list of books in one of the major bookstore in Kuala Lumpur. I did not buy the book but I read the overview on the first page. It analyzed how Tun Dr. Mahathir led Malaysia in his 22 years of becoming the prime minister of Malaysia through Neuro-linguistic techniques. 

Here, in BeST programme, we were taught about it without having to buy the book. Besides, the notes were also provided. Mr. Faizal Kamal who was the trainer for this session was very positive and friendly. It’s quite interesting with a lot of movements. We were asked to yell our cheers for several times as he saw the “low” energy level we produced that morning. This is called “break the state” phase. It is to suppress the low spirit from increasing. I was  volunteering myself and actively participated in this session. 

Several techniques were learnt on how to overcome our fear, low self-esteem and increased our confidence. One of the techniques which is good to practice is how to breathe properly. The right way is by inhaling the air through our nose and exhaling via mouth. We can noticed that our inhaling technique is correct when our stomach expanded a little bit infront.This can calm us if we're surrounded by nervousness. Since I am sitting in the front row, I was invited several times to do some demonstrations.  From this session, I gained a new value that I really wanted to have.

Another method to increase our strong, positive spirit was also taught. This method was demostrated by the cheerful and cute trainee who is Nazrin also known as "Yin". Three words were used which are "ASSESS, AMPLIFY, ANCHOR!". These words were said with three different movements. Yin  kept repeating this method until now especially when he saw us in down. Anyway, he is enlightened our day. All in all, this session has opened up my mind to understand the Neuro-Linguistic Programming and I found it to be beneficial for me to improve myself.

-Ancora Imparo-

I'm back!

          After a long period of hibernation from writing, I'm continuing to write a post back. Well, I'll review back what I've done and obtained for the past 8 days in my training sessions.  Ok, Tuesday and Wednesday (14th & 15th December 2010), the session was about Powerful Presentation skills which was trained by En. Abdullah Yunos and his assistant. A lot of knowledge was gained and understood. On the first day, we were asked to form a new group consisting between 9 to 11 people each. Again, I was the only male in the group surrounded by 10 females trainees. The tasks were very interactive (it's a communication module anyway).  

ZzzzzZz (animals.howstuffworks.com)

           The first practical assignment was to speak with a passive object like a book, chair, table etc. I chose a tumbler as my partner and I was talking about "My Family" to it. After 10 minutes, we were asked to get a partner and tell his/her the same story. This was to increase the confidence level to speak up. My partner was Aien and she was a good person to talk to.She was very supportive. The last task was topic presentation. Each group came out with different topic and ours was "sex education". It was an interesting topic but must be careful when explaining it. I'm the last speaker but I was unable to present as the trainer asked us to stop due to we exceeded the time. I'm a bit disappointed as I've already made some preparation but I felt released as well. huhi. 

              On 16th December 2010, we were trained on how to communicate as a leader. The proper ways to give instructions to subordinates and how to handle them in different situations were taught and discussed. We were asked to choose a leader in any field and searched about their way of communication mainly in giving orders and motivate their workers. My group preferred Donald Trumps as our model and the characteristics such as confidence, thing big, continuous learning and courageous were explained. The second assignment was to analyze a case study about problems that occurred in an organization due to lack of communication skills by its leader. I was the one who presented our group's findings. I volunteered myself to do it. Although there were still some improvement needed in some areas during presenting, I could feel that the level of  my confidence had increased. The comments from Prof. Syed Omar was encouraging as well. 

            The topic on Friday (17th December 2010) was really caught my intention. Why? It's a grooming time! Actually most of the session was theory only but there was demonstration on wearing tudung for ladies only and table etiquette.I learnt many things about men's formal/office attires especially on how to match the shirts with ties and trousers. For the trainees who were once attended matriculation program, they already taught of these grooming components in their "Dinamika kendiri" subject. I did learnt about it when I was in the program but only a few things because I was there for only three months. Madam Leilanie who was the trainer on that day emphasized on hygiene lifestyle and I'm totally agree with her.When she showed us the video on how to shave men's beard properly, the only person that I'm thinking of was "Freedom Wall". His wolverine-style beard needed some altering cause it's almost covering his face. They're lucky to know these earlier.

            I spent my time on weekend to do some preparations for two important sessions which were mock interview and public speaking. On Saturday (18th December 2010) I went to my previous university with the purpose to get information there but unfortunately it was closed. I was let down again. To cure my broken heart, I went to Freedom Wall's rent house in Subang Jaya and we did our works there. At first, I wanted to choose "edible vaccines" as my title for public speaking but I changed it to "Space food technology" as I found it more interesting and easier to understand for me and my audience. I also readied several questions and answers for the mock interview. The mock interview was held on Monday, 20th December 2010. I was interviewed by En. Ab. Faruk which was seemed to be a strict gentleman. The interview  was last for only 5 minutes and his comments on me were really helping me to improve my performance in interviews. 

             Now it comes to the public speaking day (21th December 2010). The night before I couldn't really sleep well. I suddenly woke up at 4.00 a.m and unable to sleep back. So, what did I do to fill the time? I practiced my public speaking. I was the fifth speaker out of 71 persons.I did as how I've practiced before and everything went quite well. I exceeded the time a bit but it was acceptable. Then I came to the comments and evaluations session. En. Hisham gave feedback that mine was good but with too many emphasizement on points. I'll work on it to improve the weakness. For me, there were a lot of excellent speakers in this BeST programme which I can learn from them. Their confidence and ability to interact with audience caught my interest. 

          The session on 22nd December 2010 was about polishing our business proposal works and progressions. My group stayed with our product which is Phyto-mix yogurt. This was an information searching period. Today (23rd December 2010) the public speaking session was continued with 12 remaining speakers to give their speech. After all of them were finished, En. Hisham announced the 15 speakers which were selected as the best speakers.After that we continued with negotiation skills. The task was interesting as we were asked to act according to the given situation of negotiation. There were many trainees that have talent in acting. That are all for this time, spread loves!

-Ancora Imparo-

Having a healthy weight

      Knowing which foods to avoid is only one part of the solution to losing weight. The key to successful weight control is the ability to make positive permanent changes to our lifestyle. In order to do this, we need to know which areas in our life need to be changed and by how much. Only then we can draw up a reasonable and practical plan to put these changes into practice. There is some information we can apply to maintain our healthy weight and fit body:

Setting goals

It is recommended to measure the height and weight in light clothing and without wearing shoes. The data in then used to calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI). One is considered as having a healthy weight range when one has BMI within 20 to 25. An overweight person is having BMI more than 25 but less than 30 while an obese will have BMI more than 30. A long term weight goal need to be established and to achieve it a practical short term goals must be made which we can obtain at two or three monthly intervals. No one become slim and trim overnight. A relevant expectation to lose excess weight must be clear in mind.

Know ourselves

        Before we begin our weight reduction session, we must recognized the food that we eat and the activities that occupy our day. This helps us to identify any unhealthy eating or activity patterns. We should also take into account our daily energy requirement which depends on the level of activity according to our occupation. This may range from inactive such as housewife to moderately active like teacher to very active person for instance an athlete. Our occupation will determine how much food energy we may take.

Diet

       It is highly recommended to eat a balanced diet daily with foods from three food groups which are carbohydrates such as rice, noodles and bread, proteins like fish, poultry and beans and also vitamins and minerals which include fruit and vegetables. Eating a wide variety of foods enable us to mix healthier eating choices with less desirable foods and also makes eating a lot more interesting. It is preferable to eat at regular meal times and try not to skip our meals. Skipping meal will make us feel too hungry and overeat later. Try to take snacks especially junk foods as minimum amount as we can and eat only when we are hungry not out of boredom or frustration. Eat only at the dining table at home. This discipline can control our desire from eating more food than we are needed. Avoid eating in front of the television as we may absent-mindedly eat large amounts of food.

Regular Exercise

      Physical benefits take the form of a well-toned body with strengthened muscles and the removal of unwanted fat from the body. Exercise is a key player in the management of weight. In addition, exercise increases the health level of the heart and lungs. It also lowers the total cholesterol levels. These effects lower the risk of diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart diseases and stroke and improve resistance to cold and flu. Apart from that, exercise improves our mental capacity and ability to withstand stress which leads to a high level of mental alertness. It is also enable us to sleep well.

-Ancora Imparo-

Two important things to get a job

The session on Friday was quite light and easy without much explanation. We spent most of the time in the computer lab to create or adjust our resume and cover letter. I just knew that every resume has only about 45 seconds to be scanned and read by the officer who is in charged for the job seeking in a company. So, in order to capture the interest of the officer, we were advice to write concisely and straight to the point by using “chicky” words or sentences. Our task was to finish both items on the same day and submitted them to an assigned person’s email for printing. At the end of the session, we were told that there were several individuals that did not have a team. To enable all people to be in a group, a person from the groups that have 9 members has to move out and join the new team. Mine was included. We did a vote and a girl got selected. We were asked to make some researches to prepare for our product proposal brainstorming session on Monday (13^th December 2010). Each group must have one agreed product to be proposed. I am still thinking about it right now. Till the next post, Take care! 

-Ancora Imparo-

Speak, speak, speak~

This can be useful - (mindmapart.com)

               

              Today's training (8th December 2010) was very interactive and interesting. We covered about The Art of Public Speaking. The trainer was very energetic & "meriah" as well. He was honest in his comments about the style of public speakers during delivering their speeches which is I liked. The other trainer was also very sincere about her comments. We would not know our mistakes or weaknesses if nobody tells us the truth. The trainer had read the personalities of almost the trainees who attended the session but he did not really touched on mine. It would be better if I could know my personality from the perspective of others especially from an experience professional like him so that I could improve myself. From time to time, I found out that my cold,sweaty palms have gradually decreased their occurrence when I am speaking infront of an audience. Although my group was commented to be too "structured" and had difficulty in voice modulation, I took the feedback as a positive thing for me to meliorate the performance in the future tasks. My public speaking topic for the next session is on "food & technology". Need to specialize more on it. I think this is something I'm interested in especially about the food. Till the next post,  Cheers!

-Ancora Imparo-

Attaining an audience via blogging.

       Blogging is a new medium of communication and one type of social netwoking besides Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to name a few. Blogs enable people to interact with each other through online. The communication occurs in real time with everyone at any part of the world can get connected. During the early days of blogging, it is used as an online diary and one of the earliers blogger who utilising this application was Justin Hall. He was a student in Swarthmore College, United States in 1994 (wikipedia, 2010).  

       

       The first requirement the bloggers must consider in order to attract audiences and consequently read his or her blog is by recognising the target audience. The ability to know the audience enable bloggers to tune their way of writings and topics they want to write about in a way the targeted audience interested at. Another thing is bloggers must be consistent in posting their writings. Be it a post every day or a weekly post, bloggers need to be constant in their posts. This will keep the audience up-to-date with the progression of the blogs. Some audience may keep updating the blogs that they find interesting everyday. If they figure out that the bloggers irregularly post their writings, slowly they will loss their attention. At the end, the audience will abandon that blogs.

        It is recommended that the bloggers used a conversational language. This means that they can write in a way they talk; short paragraphs and sentences will give a huge impact to the understanding of the audience. The layout of the blogs is also play an important role in catching the attention of the audience. The right combination of colours between the layout and words of writings and also font of the words affect the thoughts and interest of the readers. We will distracted to read if the blogs that we come across use bright, red colour layout with a white colour for the words and small font size, say, font 8.

        One of the simplest way to get an audience is by being a follower to a blog first, hoping that the owner of the blog to follow back our blogs. This method does not guarantee the number of audience to be increased but at least someone may read the writings and there are chances that the readers get interested to our blog and subsequently becoming our aaudience. There is a saying that sounds "If we never try, then we never know". The addition of gadgets or widgets to the blogs will also attract others to become an audience. Gadgets can be in many forms such as music plugins, latest news and statistics of how many readers have come to the blog. Gadgets will make the appearance of the blogs to be attractive & exciting to be read.

         To conclude, blogs are very useful for us to express ourselves, get connected with others, and also share information between blogger to blogger and blogger to readers. The ability to attract audience to read our blogs constantly will enable us to generate some money if we properly manage our blogs.

-Ancora Imparo-

       

Thinking of something extreme.

Ohoooi~! (Wardy, 2009) - Gift-experiences.co.uk

        This morning, I have a chat with "Freedom Wall" about bungy jumping. Hey2, I really want to try it. Why? I just want to challenge myself and fight my fear.  I want to feel the rush of adrenaline in my body. My friend's mom who is not that young, she's 45 this year, had already tried it in New Zealand and this induced my desire to really jump down from the platform. I heard that Sunway Lagoon extreme park had came out with a bungy jumping attraction. Yes, this is where I should go!.This add up the G Force X play there. Ok, about the price, the sales executive had emailed me stating that the packaged price for G Force X + bungy jumping is RM95 for MyCard holders only.  I think it can be considered as affordable. But, we will also need to pay for the entrance fees which is RM 60. Again, for MyCard holders only. Hence a total of RM155 I must put aside for my wants. I'll consider that.

The G Force X capsule - sunwaylagoonrocks.blogspot.com

         I was told that the height is not challenging enough compared to the AJ Hackett's bungy jumping facilities in New Zealand. I think that's fine for a beginner like me. How about the risk? So far, I have not hear any accident occurs in Malaysia. Since AJ Hackett's team is the one that manages and maintains both extreme plays in Sunway Lagoon, I believe the level of safety is high. I am determine to try them. Freedom Wall, let's go dude! I finish here for awhile. Take care!

-Ancora Imparo-

You deserve it.

            I just arrived from following my cousin who is older then me, to KLCC. He wanted to get a suit for his meeting and presentation tomorrow (6th December 2010). On the way there, he told me about his job. He said he was too busy. He was becoming a workaholic person. Even today (Sunday) his boss asked him to come to the office for meeting. He was so stress. Too much of politics in his company made him annoyed but he was determined with his job. He said to me starting from next year, he'll be changing his office to the same area where I am currently having my training. 

            His boss gave him a new project for him to handle. I'm happy for him. One thing that prevented him from quitting his job is because he finally being offered a 5 figured salary after almost 15 years of working. He said, at first he wanted to quit but his boss persuaded him not to do so. The boss even willing to pay RM13000 for my cousin's down payment of Mazda3 that he really wanted to buy. Wow,what a lucky guy he is!. I bet my cousin is really an excellent employee. How I wish I can be like him. I mean, I want to be an excellent employee like him. Is honoured by his boss and colleagues and always gives the best performance. Anyway, he deserved it. I think he own everything he wants. He has a job with a good pay, a car, a house and likable. What he doesn't has is a wife. Maybe, he should find a soulmate & set it as his goal for 2011. That's all for now, Bubbye!

 -Ancora Imparo-

Nike running' 2010.

        On 10th October 2010, I participated in a running event organised by Nike. the event was named "KL vs SG: Nike City 10K". two categories of lengths were offered; 5km or 10km. Runners from Malaysia were competing with Singaporean runners to win the most numbers of runners that were able to complete the 10 kilometre run.  the more successful 10Km runners, the more the number of kilometres accumulated & the winning country would obtain USD30,000 for Charity. Therefore, it was highly recommended for participants to enter the 10KM category.

The Finisher Pose. =P

        I knew about the activity when I heard some of my friends chatting about Nike things which was related to running. One of my housemates, who was a guy that loved branded items, excitedly wanted to buy Nike shoes & attire while my other housemate kept talking about it was the time for us to buy Nike stuffs as we were given 50% discounts for any item in Nike store IF we entered the event.  I asked them, " Dudes,  what is the event that both of you discussing about?". They replied enthusiastically, "It's a Nike City 10K run, man!". I immediately wanted to join it. My reasons of entering the event were slightly different from them. I wanted to get a certificate & enhanced my stamina. Still, the 50% discounts influenced me a lot. We filled in the application form & submitted it to student association department. Everything went well and we got the 50% discount coupon. 

       Everyone was very excited once we received the coupon. All of us only focus on the discount and nobody bother about the terms and conditions. I told them I was a little bit suspicious about the discounts but they said I was too concern. Yeah, right!! to cut short, we went to the Nike store in Sunway Pyramid. We did window shopping first, surveying what stuffs each of us intended to buy. we went to the counter to pay for went to the counter & asked about the validity of the coupon. The salesperson told us that it was only valid to buy the Nike+ sportband. Only, a single Nike+ sportband. Oh man..so disappointing. At the end, no one buy anything.

       As for our preparation, we planned to train together along with other friends who were determined to join the event. Why did I said "determined"? It's because there were some who filled in the form just to get the coupon & receive the shirt but did not want to run. They were not even present during the running day. We only managed to train 3 times before the actual occasion as all of us were very busy with our projects and reports. The third training session was done the day before the event which was on 9th October 2010. Six of us running together after dawn because the weather was still cold. We trained on the running  track at MPSJ sport complex where the full circle is about 420m. So, to reach 10km, we need to run  the track circle 24 times and must complete the run within 1 hour 30 minutes. The running was at constant pace and we ran in the "arrow head" formation. 

       Why do we choose this formation? it is because we want to create an aerodynamic feature that  is known as drafting. "Drafting can significantly reduce the paceline's average energy expenditure required to maintain a certain speed and can also slightly reduce the energy expenditure of the lead  object" (wikipedia, 2010). In another words, the one with excellent stamina will be in front of others and he/she can help those who have lower stamina to be at same pace together. When the leader was exhausted, his position was replaced with other member so that everyone can arrive at the finishing line together. My average finishing time was about 1 hour 17 minutes. Even though it was not the the fastest, it indicates that I am able to finish the run. An unfortunate thing happened. I got blisters on both of my feet while tomorrow was the day. Nevertheless, I didn't see it as a problem. Although the doctor advised me not to run, I will run & I was running.

The group

       My group members and I gathered as early as 5.30 a.m at the university's foyer together with other participants who represented our university. We reached the location which was at KLCC area around 6.00 a.m.The Muslims participants performed our Subuh prayer at KLCC mosque. There were huge number of people wearing bright green-colored Dri-fit T-shirts which were the official T-shirts of the event. We started the running at 7.15 a.m sharp with the 5km runners being released first. My group ran together just like during our training but when we reached at the 6km checkpoint, my legs were hurt so bad especially my feet. my friends pushed me to run & I was able to follow them but only a short distance. I asked them to keep running and do not  worry about me. I stopped for awhile to gain strength & I ran back with the crowd of runners. The blisters hurts me badly which caused me to walk for several times instead of running. 

       When I reached at the 8km checkpoint, I got my ultimate positive spirit. I said to myself, "If I can arrived until the final checkpoint, why can't I finished the run?!". I ran at my full heart. At last, I reach the finishing line. Although my time was slightly later than the average training time, I am very satisfied with what I have achieved. When I met my friends, we congratulated each other and everyone was very supportive. I haven't receive the certificate yet but I got a vinyl figure from the organizer as a souvenir.

The one on the left is the souvenir. I called it "The purple dude".

It took almost a week for the blisters to heal. So, yup, I think I am finish, See ya!

-Ancora Imparo- 

An Introduction

Hi all! It is a great pleasure for me to finally having a blog. I'm just an ordinary guy that LOVEs cars. No doubt about it. Fitness and health are also included my interests.  It is because I believe that a healthy body generates healthy mind. What I  really hates is the price hike of petrol! It go up again and again and again!  which is annoying me to read or hear during the day. I think that's it for my first post. Bye!

-Ancora Imparo-